According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Daiwa released a research report stating that the rating of Tsingtao Brewery (00168) was downgraded from 'buy' to 'hold', and the H-share target price was lowered by 24%, from 69 Hong Kong dollars to 52.6 Hong Kong dollars. Due to weak consumer willingness in China and increasingly fierce competition in the mid-to-high-end beer market, despite Tsingtao Brewery's investments in sales and marketing, Daiwa believes that Tsingtao Brewery's upscale process in 2025 will slow down, leading to a slowdown in the expansion of operating profit margin.

Daiwa stated that due to the strong performance of Tsingtao Brewery brand, it is forecasted that both sales volume and average selling price will increase by 1% year-on-year in 2025. Daiwa also revised down the group's earnings per share forecast for 2024-2026 by 3-11% to account for the weakened factors of sales volume and average selling price increase. The bank noted that Tsingtao Brewery's sales performance in the third quarter of this year was inferior to China Resources Beer (00291), with an expected year-on-year decline in sales volume in low single digits for China Resources Beer. Due to China Resources Beer's strong brand portfolio and execution capabilities, Daiwa prefers China Resources Beer over Tsingtao Brewery.